Back to the Spirit World
by elemental water boy
Summary: Rin bring Chihiro back into the spirit world with a proposition in mind. Can Chihiro save the bathhouse?
1. Chapter 1

Chihiro sat up in her bed. This was the fifth night in a row that she woke up because of a dream. It was exactly the same as the other four nights. She saw herself standing in front of the spirits' bathhouse, and everyone who worked there was welcoming her back in. The only problem was that her friend Haku wasn't there. He was away on a journey and would never return. The sadness is what wakes her up. She looked over at her clock. 3:15 AM.

"I have to go back to sleep," Chihiro told herself. She rested her head back on her pillow. "Haku, I miss you."

When she woke back up, Chihiro stepped out of bed and put her clothes on. She decided to take a walk before breakfast. She stepped out into her backyard and looked down a hill. She could see the road leading the forest that led to the spirits' bathhouse. Then, out of the forest, a little rabbit appeared. It hopped up the hill and rested its head on her foot.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she said, shocked. The rabbit bit down on the bottom of her pants and tugged on them. Then it let go and ran down the hill towards the forest. Absentmindedly, Chihiro followed, and soon found herself standing outside of the building that was the entrance to the park with the bathhouse. She entered. The tunnel leading into the building was dark, just as she had remembered from a year ago. Soon she was through the building and in the large field with a river cutting through it. She knew that the river was the border between the spirit and human worlds, and that as soon as she crossed it, she had to get back across before sunset. She watched the little rabbit run ahead and cross the river. She followed it.

When she crossed the river, Chihiro stood in the middle of the street that led to the bathhouse. Delicious aromas could be smelled from the restaurants on either side of her, but she knew that if she ate from them, she would be punished. The rabbit hopped over to a restaurant and jumped up onto a chair. It stared at Chihiro until she sat down beside it. The rabbit then hopped onto the counter with the food and pushed some onto Chihiro's plate.

"I can't eat this. I'll be turned into a pig," the girl said. The rabbit stared at her with a stern look. "I cant!" The rabbit jumped up and hit her in the face. "Fine! Fine! Look!" Chihiro picked up some food and ate it. It was delicious, and she had to eat more. She was hungry.

After she finished eating, the rabbit led Chihiro up the street. They reached the bathhouse and crossed the bridge to its entrance. When they stepped inside, the rabbit vanished and was replaced with a beautiful young woman with long, black hair.

"RIN!" Chihiro shouted, jumped up and hugging her friend. "You're a rabbit spirit?"

"More like a hardworking animal spirit, but that's not important. How are you, kid?"

"I'm great! But what's wrong? Why did you bring me here? How did you get out of the spirit world in the first place?" Chihiro remembered that Yubaba kept all her workers in the bathhouse, and they could never leave.

"Follow me," Rin said, walking to an elevator. They stepped inside, and the elevator rose up. "I have a lot to tell you. After you left, Haku dealt with Yubaba. The old woman is now living with her sister, and that means that the bathhouse is under new ownership."

"Haku?" Chihiro asked.

"Right. He's now the owner of the bathhouse. His first order of business was to give us all our names back, which is how I got out of here. However, he's the reason why I brought you here. Haku has so much to deal with now, and the bathhouse is in jeopardy of closing and we need to keep it open. Chihiro, we need your help to keep this place open. Without it, we have nowhere to go! Think of Haku. He's the spirit of the Kohaku River, which is now covered by apartments. He'll just disappear." The elevator stopped and the door opened, bringing them to a hallway outside of Yubaba's office. "We need you to run the bathhouse until Haku gets back. He's gone into the human world to try and get his river running again. Apparently there's a small crack behind one of the apartments and he's trying to rebuild it from that. It won't work, but that's all he thinks about. Please help us!"

"But what about my parents?" Chihiro asked. "They'll know I'm gone. And when will Haku be back? How will any of this work?! I don't know how to run a bathhouse!"

"But you can if you try!" Rin said. "Please, we need you. I'll give you some time to think." She left the room. Chihiro sat in a chair and thought. She thought long and hard and lost track of time. At one point she looked out the window and saw the sun. Hours had passed, and it was close to being completely set.

"Oh no!" The girl ran out of the room and into the elevator. She darted out of the bathhouse and down the street. When she got to the river, she saw what she had feared. The sun had already set, and the river was now a vast ocean. Chihiro was stuck in the spirit world.


	2. Chapter 2

Chihiro looked out at the ocean. A large ship was coming closer to where she stood, and she knew that it carried spirits going to the bathhouse. She rushed back up the street and into the bathhouse. She remembered where she would find Rin, so she ran to the area with all the baths. After looking into a few, she finally found Rin scrubbing the side of an extremely dirty one.

"Rin! I'm stuck here! I didn't make it out in time!" she said frantically.

"Calm down! You can get out in the morning. Since you can remember your name, you have free passage between the spirit and human world. Until then, what are you going to do about the bathhouse?" Rin asked. "Either you can run it, or you can go back to scrubbing baths with me. Take your pick."

Chihiro thought for a moment. "What do I have to do to run it?" she asked.

"Yes! Perfect!" Rin jumped out of the bath excitedly. She called someone over to finish the bath for her, and then she brought Chihiro back up to the office. "Throughout the night, you're going to messages about problems. You can hear them through this." She picked up a small skull that was sitting on the desk and handed it to Chihiro. "Your job is to give out orders and fix the problems. That's all you should have to do tonight. There will be other jobs as time goes on, though. I'll go let everyone know you're here. Good luck!" Rin left the room.

Chihiro sat down at the desk. "I guess this is all mine now. I can't do this," she said, her eyes tearing. She rested her head on the desk, but suddenly, a voice came from the skull.

"Sen!" It said. Chihiro wasn't used to being called by the name she had when Yubaba was here. "I guess I should call you Chihiro now. Welcome back, Rin just told me." Chihiro finally realized that the voice was that of the small frog that worked at the bathhouse. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but already we have a problem. There's a man here who can't pay for his bath."

"Who is he?" Chihiro asked nervously.

"The radish spirit." Chihiro had a flashback in her mind. She remember how the radish spirit had helped sneak her up to Yubaba's office the first time she was in the spirit world. She felt that it was time to return the favor.

"Umm...Give him credit. Tell him to pay when he can," she said into the skull. Then the room was silent again. "What should I do now? I wonder how Kamajii is." She thought about the man who worked in the boiler room. He was the second friend she made during her first visit. She picked up the skull and walked out of the room. She decided to visit the man. She stepped into the elevator and took it to the bottom floor. Then she walked out of the bathhouse and down a staircase that led to the boiler room. She walked through a door and found the man heating the boiler with his little soot helpers.

"Chihiro? So it's true! How are you?" He reached down to her with one of his six arms and patted her on the head.

"I'm fine, thanks." Just then, the skull began to talk once more.

"Chihiro, we need your help." It was Rin this time who spoke to her. "Get to the largest bath immediately. We have a wrath spirit."

"A wrath spirit?" Chihiro asked.

"It's a spirit of anger," Kamajii said. "If it's not kept happy, it could bring this whole place crumbling down. Go fast, and then come back here. I have something for you."

Chihiro bolted out of the boiler room and back up the stairs. She stepped into the bathhouse and saw a group of workers standing around a large bath. "Excuse me," she said, pushing her way to the front. She found Rin talking to the spirit.

"If there's anything else we can get you, please, don't hesitate to ask. Oh! This is our new owner, Chihiro."

"I'm very pleased to have you here," Chihiro said, bowing. Then she turned to Rin. "New owner?" she whispered.

"Just for tonight! Stay here with this thing. Keep it happy," Rin whispered back. "Alright everybody move out! Give the spirit his privacy!" she shouted at the workers. When the workers had dispersed, Chihiro turned to the spirit.

"Umm...h-how's your bath so far?" The spirit was large and had a deep red face. It looked at her.

"Where is Yubaba?" he asked.

"She's with her sister. She isn't here anymore. Is there anything special she would do for you?"

"Bring me food, and then leave me be," the spirit ordered

"Can I have some food in here?!" Chihiro shouted. Immediately all of the workers began to run around trying to find food for the spirit.

"What's taking so long?!" the spirit shouted, his booming voice shaking the walls around him.

"Just one minute," Chihiro said. When the food arrived, Chihiro dispersed the workers and quickly slipped out of the room. She ran back to Kamajii. "So what did you have for me?"

"That was fast. I heard the spirit shouting. It sounds like you handled that well. Anyway, this is for you." The old man reached up to a drawer on the wall and pulled it open. He withdrew from it a letter. "It's from Haku."

Chihiro tore open the letter and sat on the floor.

"Chihiro. If you're reading this letter, it means that you're back in the spirit world. Welcome back. This also means that you're working in the bathhouse. I need you to stay here for as long as I'm gone. Run the bathhouse and keep everything under control. The spirits have been strange since Yubaba left, and it's up to you to keep everything running. Please help us. Your friend, Haku."

"That's it?" Chihiro asked. "I have to stay here?"

"Sounds like it," Kamajii said. "Now go back up to your office. You'll work better there than here." Chihiro left the room and went back to her office. When she arrived, she found a bird sitting in the window. It had the face of an old woman. Yubaba's face. It was her Yu-bird. The bird held out its leg to show a note tied to it.

"Sen, I hear you're back. Word travels quickly among the spirits. You're not fit to run the bathhouse, and you must pay for embarrassing me like you did. I'm coming back."


	3. Chapter 3

"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!" Chihiro called into the skull.

"I'm coming!" Rin answered a second later. After a minute, Rin came barging through the door of the office. "What's wrong?"

"Yubaba's coming back!"

"What?! She can't! Haku banished her! She must know that he's not here. The spirits will back her up and turn against us. We need to get them out of here." Rin picked up the skull. "Attention all customers. I'm sorry to say that due to an emergency, the bathhouse will be closed for the rest of the night. All workers please report to the main hall as soon as everyone is out of here."

Grumbling, the spirits quickly left the bathhouse and the main hall was soon filled with workers. Chihiro stepped up onto a staircase to talk to them. "Umm..ATTENTION PLEASE!" she shouted, quieting the room. "You're probably all wondering why we called you here," she said, gesturing to herself and Rin, "and I think it would be best to be completely honest with all of you. Yubaba's coming back." The room was suddenly filled with conversation and worried looks. "QUIET PLEASE! QUIET!"

"But Yubaba can't come back!" came a shout from the crowd. "Master Haku banished her!"

"Well Haku isn't here right now," Rin said impatiently, "and apparently Yubaba knows that."

"I'm here," came a voice from behind the crowd. A teenage boy stepped forward. He had long hair that reached his shoulders and his face was serious.

"HAKU!" Chihiro shouted, running forward and hugging the boy. He hugged her back.

"Chihiro, it's good to see you again," Haku said, smiling. "So what's the problem? Yubaba's coming back."

"Uh huh. She says that I can't run the bathhouse."

"She can't come back," Haku said. "There's a spell on the bathhouse preventing that."

"Oh yea?" came a loud, booming voice. Everyone rushed outside to see where the voice came from. Standing across the bridge that led to the bathhouse was an old woman. Yubaba. "Watch this." Yubaba reached out. Immediately an invisible barrier appeared, and she placed her hands on it. "AAAAAAAAH!" In a bright flash, the barrier shattered, and Yubaba crossed the bridge. "Sen, get out of here."

"My name is Chihiro!" Chihiro shouted.

"You'll always be little Sen to me," Yubaba persisted.

"Get out of here," Haku said. He reached out his palm and sent a gust of wind at Yubaba, pushing her back.

"Oh, so it's a fight you want. Well then take this!" Yubaba opened her hand and sent a stream of fire shooting of Haku and Chihiro. Haku pushed the girl out of the way and jumped in the air. By now, a crowd had gathered. When the spirits left the bathhouse, they filled up the restaurants along the street, and now they were crowding around to see what the commotion was about. "Spirits, help me," Yubaba ordered. However, none of them moved. "What are you all doing?"

"They're waiting to see what will happen. They don't know if they should follow you, the wicked former owner, or Chihiro, the new owner," Haku answered. Then, out of the crowd stepped a large white creature with a red tinted head. It looked almost like a vegetable.

"The radish spirit!" Chihiro said. The large spirit hobbled over to Chihiro and handed her some money. Then he stood at her side.

"So you think you can beat me with the radish spirit to help you?" asked Yubaba. "HA! This will be fun." The old woman opened her hands and started to form a large fireball. Immediately, however, the fireball was doused. A river spirit had walked up and put out the fire.

"You're willing to attack an innocent girl because of your banishment? You aren't fit to run to this bath house," the spirit said. With that, the other spirits picked up Yubaba and carried her away. Haku quickly muttered a spell and rebuilt the barrier around the bathhouse.

"This spell is stronger," he said. "It should hold her back." Light flooded onto them. The sun was coming up.

"Chihiro," Rin said. "The sun's up. You can go home if you want to. The decision is up to you if you want to stay or not."

Everyone looked at her. The girl had to make up her mind.

"I think," she said after a moment, "that I'll stay here. Haku can go out and try to rebuild his river. I'll stay here." With that, a celebration began. The party went on for hours and hours. Once it was over, Chihiro found Rin sitting on a balcony looking out into the ocean. "You still want to get out of here, don't you?"

"Yeah. Someday I will too," Rin answered.

"Well you'll need these," Chihiro said, handing her a ticket to the train that runs across the ocean.

"How did you...?"

"I found them in Yubaba's desk. Take them and take a vacation. Go!"

"Thanks, kid!" Rin said, jumping up and running off.

"Oh, Rin! I have a question for you. What's your real name? Not the name Yubaba gave you."

"Marin. That's my real name. Bye!" With that, Rin left.

Chihiro went on running the bathhouse. Haku was able to slightly rebuild his river. He made it into a small pond to decorate the backyard of the apartments. Rin went on her trip and eventually returned. Yubaba was never seen or heard from again. Eventually, Chihiro and Haku were able to confess their love to each other. They grew up, got married, and live happily. The bathhouse was a great success.

****

That's the end. Sorry the ending is a little disappointing. I got weird writer's block. Oh well.


End file.
